[On the epidemiology of mental illnesses: update on recent data]

The goal of this paper is to summarize recent epidemiological findings from community studies on mental illness prevalence and incidence among male and female respectively. The author refer mainly to the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) research projects. A review of developments of the American Psychiatric Association classification of mental disorders is presented and implications of the new nosology on the epidemiologic method is offered. The data indicate that males and females vary significantly in prevalence and incidence of psychopathologies assessed in these studies. Results are compared to those collected for the Santé Québec health survey.